Emergency personnel respond to a bomb threat today in Illinois. (Via NBC Chicago)
UPDATE 12:36 p.m.: The Ledger-Enquirer reports that the bomb threat “was left at 7:19 p.m. Thursday. The message wasn’t retrieved until 8:30 a.m. Friday.” Columbus police Lt. Bill Rawn said “It sounded like a disgruntled worker … ‘You don’t pay us enough. You cut back our hours. We’re not expendable. We’ll show you we’re not expendable.’”
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UPDATE 12:34 p.m.:
RT
@ledgerenquirer: BREAKING: Armed man arrested at movie pre-screening in#ColumbusGA; not believed it’s bomb threat tinyurl.com/bu8vlnd— Metro COLA (@MetroCOLA) August 17, 2012
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UPDATE 12:20 p.m.: According to Wikipedia, the Carmike chain, based in Columbus, Ga., “operates or has an interest in 239 theaters with 2,236 screens in 35 states, making it the fourth largest theatre company in the United States.”
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UPDATE 12:10 p.m.: AJC.com reports that several Atlanta area theaters are on alert:
Carmike theaters in Snellville, Canton, Newnan, Hiram, Conyers, Cumming and Bartow County have all dispatched officers to various theaters, according to police in various agencies.
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UPDATE 11:54 a.m.: There are additional reports of bomb threats across the country. From NBC Chicago:
According to NBC affiliate LEX 18 in Kentucky, a Lexington Fire Department spokesperson confirmed that a bomb threat was called into the Carmike Cinemas corporate office in Columbus, Ga., about numerous bombs planted across the country. There are reports of a threat at a theater in Morris, Ill., as well as cinemas in Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Bomb threat was one call to Carmike corporate offices in Columbus, not specific theaters. bit.ly/NM8fuN
— AJC(@ajc) August 17, 2012
Police and other emergency personnel are searching and securing threatened locations.
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Someone threatening to blow up four movie theaters in the Shawnee, Oklahoma, area has police scrambling to secure the locations.
The bomb threats, called in this morning, come a month after 12 people died in the Dark Knight Rises Massacre movie theater shooting in Colorado.
Several neighboring buildings have been evacuated as cops probe the threat, reports News Star.